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There was a long time where I couldn't touch my toes
It wasn't that I was particularly unfit when I was younger. If anything it was the opposite.
You'd hardly have called me a sporting superstar at school. Lanky sums it up quite well. I wasn't thin because I played a lot of sport (and I certainly wasn't thin because of my diet). I was just blessed with a fast metabolism, a propensity to fidget, and a low tolerance for boredom. If I was walking to school, and didn't have anything better to do I'd often just sprint there. Not to that I was keen to get to class, or was cutting things fine again. Just to save the tedium of the walk.
Now when I'd run as a child, I'd practically float. I'd kick off from a standing start with a little jump forward. Then as each foot came down, I touch the floor with my big toe, start flexing my legs, and be on the upwards bounce by the time the balls of my feet made contact. My heels would never touch the floor. It felt almost as though I was gliding across the ground, and just brushing my feet across it occasionally to remind my hips how high they were supposed to be.
The problem with this sort of impromptu running is that I'd obviously never do stretches afterwards. The reason it felt so easy is that it's not exactly using the muscles fully. It's just pulling out the hamstring like an elastic band, and snapping it back. By the time I left Uni my tendons were so tight, the closest I could get to touching my toes was at least a hand span off the floor. And I have big hands.
A couple of years ago I joined a gym. Primarily to increase my stamina and flexibility, but I wouldn't have said no to losing some weight too. Running on a machine, especially for longish periods of time, is a very diffenrent matter to impromptu sprints. For a one thing treadmills are not long enough for to reach my full leg span. So I learned to jog landing on the balls of my feet. Or even on the heel, and to rotate my foot to take off from the ball. On top of that I was given a set of stretches to specifically loosen the hamstring.
I can once again touch my toes, and anytime I do anything like play squash, or go on my cross trainer, I make sure I sneak in least a quick stretch.
--
Tonight on the way home from the tube, I spotted a bus I could catch to save me walking three stops. I'd not long passed the previous stop and probably didn't stand a chance, but I decided to run for it anyway. And I slipped into the old sprint. And it felt like floating. It was marvelous. The bus was getting away, but I didn't care.
Then a guy at the bus stop stood up and flagged the bus down. As I got there he just smiled, nodded and sat down. It wasn't his bus, but he'd seen that the driver wasn't going to stop, so he'd stopped it for me. I love litte RAoKs like that. They really make my day.
You'd hardly have called me a sporting superstar at school. Lanky sums it up quite well. I wasn't thin because I played a lot of sport (and I certainly wasn't thin because of my diet). I was just blessed with a fast metabolism, a propensity to fidget, and a low tolerance for boredom. If I was walking to school, and didn't have anything better to do I'd often just sprint there. Not to that I was keen to get to class, or was cutting things fine again. Just to save the tedium of the walk.
Now when I'd run as a child, I'd practically float. I'd kick off from a standing start with a little jump forward. Then as each foot came down, I touch the floor with my big toe, start flexing my legs, and be on the upwards bounce by the time the balls of my feet made contact. My heels would never touch the floor. It felt almost as though I was gliding across the ground, and just brushing my feet across it occasionally to remind my hips how high they were supposed to be.
The problem with this sort of impromptu running is that I'd obviously never do stretches afterwards. The reason it felt so easy is that it's not exactly using the muscles fully. It's just pulling out the hamstring like an elastic band, and snapping it back. By the time I left Uni my tendons were so tight, the closest I could get to touching my toes was at least a hand span off the floor. And I have big hands.
A couple of years ago I joined a gym. Primarily to increase my stamina and flexibility, but I wouldn't have said no to losing some weight too. Running on a machine, especially for longish periods of time, is a very diffenrent matter to impromptu sprints. For a one thing treadmills are not long enough for to reach my full leg span. So I learned to jog landing on the balls of my feet. Or even on the heel, and to rotate my foot to take off from the ball. On top of that I was given a set of stretches to specifically loosen the hamstring.
I can once again touch my toes, and anytime I do anything like play squash, or go on my cross trainer, I make sure I sneak in least a quick stretch.
--
Tonight on the way home from the tube, I spotted a bus I could catch to save me walking three stops. I'd not long passed the previous stop and probably didn't stand a chance, but I decided to run for it anyway. And I slipped into the old sprint. And it felt like floating. It was marvelous. The bus was getting away, but I didn't care.
Then a guy at the bus stop stood up and flagged the bus down. As I got there he just smiled, nodded and sat down. It wasn't his bus, but he'd seen that the driver wasn't going to stop, so he'd stopped it for me. I love litte RAoKs like that. They really make my day.